Description
White Pearl comes from Holland and European gardeners have been growing it for many years, which is the most useful recommendation a fruit variety can have. It holds an attractive upright form and carries large, translucent, beautiful fruit.
The flavor is sweet and genuinely good, which is characteristic of the white currants: they carry the same clean structure as a red currant with far less of the acidity, so they are easy to eat fresh rather than being strictly a preserving fruit.
Overview
- Large, translucent, sweet and flavorful berries.
- Attractive and upright in habit.
- A long-established Dutch variety.
- Easy to eat fresh as well as preserve.
Growing Details
Latin Name: Ribes rubrum ‘White Pearl’
Site and Soil: 1/2 day to full day of sun; rich, moist, well-drained soil
Hardiness: Hardy to USDA Zone 3
Rootstock: Grown from cuttings
Bearing Age: Light crop the year after planting; full crops by the third or fourth year
Size at Maturity: Upright and compact, about 3 to 5 ft tall and wide
Ripening Time: Mid season; July into August
Pollination: Self-fertile; one bush sets a full crop, and a second currant nearby increases berry size
Additional Notes
- Grower’s Insight: Currants fruit on wood two and three years old. Take out the oldest canes each winter and you keep the bush in its productive prime indefinitely.
- Regional Insight: Currants are cool-climate fruit, at their best where summers stay moderate and winters are properly cold.
- Explore more berries in our collection: Berries
